Alberta's Omicron case count nearly doubled yesterday, jumping from 60 to 119.
Alberta's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Hinshaw took to Twitter to update Albertans. She attributes the significant jump to ramped-up testing across the province.
"Our lab has shifted to a quicker testing process for the Omicron variant which means that today we are reporting a large number of Omicron cases coming from several days all at once," explains Dr. Hinshaw.
She goes on to say that the 59 new Omicron cases identified on Thursday are mostly from three days of samples taken between December 12 and 14.
Alberta Health Services is closely monitoring the developments around the still new Omicron variant and Dr. Hinshaw is reiterating the importance of taking the necessary precautions to help slow the spread.
The province is currently reporting 4,212 active COVID-19 cases, with 352 Albertans in hospital and 70 in ICU.
Cochrane has added two more COVID cases bringing the total to 39 and Rocky View County is holding at 49 active.
St.Timothy School in Cochrane remains on the AHS school status map under an alert with 2-4 cases, and Glenbow Elementary School had been added also reporting 2-4 cases.